Pit Stop Radio News

Christopher Bell and Rico Abreu. the two most recent event winners, will lead 28 Toyota-powered drivers into the 32nd annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals at the Tulsa Expo Raceway, Jan. 9-13, as the manufacturer seeks its fourth consecutive crown at the biggest event in Midget car racing. Approximately 350 cars have been entered for this year’s race.

Bell returns as the reigning Chili Bowl champion after a dominating 2017 that saw him go on to capture the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title as well earn 10 national midget feature wins in 13 races during the year. He is joined by Abreu, who will be looking for his third Chili Bowl crown in the last four years after winning the event in 2015 and 2016. The duo will once again be teammates on Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM). Overall, the Toyota driver line-up features eight past Midget national champions.

“I can’t think of a better way to start our racing season than heading to Tulsa for the Chili Bowl,” said David Wilson, president of TRD, USA.  “The Chili Bowl is one of the most unique and prestigious races in U.S. motorsports and we’re so incredibly proud to be not only defending our win from last year with Christopher Bell, but also vying for our fourth consecutive ‘Golden Driller’.  The Chili Bowl and midget racing in general continues to be an important facet of TRD’s driver development program and we’re very excited about the talented young men and women competing under the Toyota banner in 2018.”

KKM also will field entries for reigning USAC champion Spencer Bayston; POWRi champion Logan Seavey; Holly Shelton, who will seek to become the first woman ever to qualify for the Saturday A Main; Ryan Robinson; NASCAR driver Kyle Larson; and Tucker Klaasmeyer, the 2017 POWRi runner-up, who will join the operation for the first time for this year’s Chili Bowl.

Daum Motorsports will field a four-car entry led by three-time POWRi champion Zach Daum. The team also will field cars for Chase Stockton and Jack Hawley, as well as Presley Truedson, the youngest driver in the field who turned 16 just five days in advance of the event.

Other Toyota contenders include 2005 Chili Bowl champion and USAC Triple Crown winner Tracy Hines, fellow Triple Crown winners Dave Darland and J.J. Yeley; Toyota USAC regular Chad Boat, a multiple-time USAC winner in each of the past two seasons; and two-time USAC Sprint Car champion Brady Bacon. Bacon will be teammates with David Gravel, an 18-time World of Outlaw winner in 2017, on the Frank Manafort Racing team.

Kenny Brown’s Factory Boss Racing team will field a multiple car line-up with NASCAR driver Justin Allgaier teaming with Michael Faccinto.

The group is rounded out by, Blake Hahn, the grand-son of Chili Bowl co-founder Emmett Hahn, Tanner Berryhill, Frankie Guerini, Kyle Jones, Landon Simon, Paul McMahan, Mark Chisholm and Dylan Westbrook. In total, the 28-car Toyota line-up will feature drivers from 12 states across the U.S., as well as Canada.